Ana se fue.

Ana is in Rome this week. I don't think you heard me....ANA IS IN ROME, i.e. out of BARCELONA! Do you know what this means????!!!! All you people out there who are certainly not reading this tiny little blog have no idea what this means, BUT you people who do read this blog, and I know there is at least one of you, knows exactly what this means. RAGER!!

Just kidding. But it does mean I can cook, watch TV, eat, drink, and be merry whenever I please for four glorious days while the house mom is in Italia. Seriously, it's making my week.

Since Ana se fue on Monday, Daniela, Becs, and Jordan have been over every night watching movies, the olympics, and cooking amazing dinners. Homemade butter, onion, and tomato sauce with fideos, big yummy salads, lots and lots of bread, and of course the love of my life, red wine! Tonight we ate on my balcony around 10, the sky was a beautiful purple, midnight blue, and the neighborhood was pretty quiet. It's times like these where it feels so surreal that I'm living in Spain, having the time of my life with people I just met five months ago.

Dani and Becs hung out all afternoon baking cookies. Which, in Ana's kitchen, is no small task. Not only does she not own a single measuring device, but the only working apparatus in which to bake is a 12" x 6" toaster oven. Luckily I am a Top Chef devotee and I am accustomed to working with such challenges (well watching other people working with them anyway).

The baked good of tonight was homemade chocolate chunk cookies. With not a recipe in sight, Daniela and I got to it, eying up all measurements, adding an egg when we added to much flour, singing so loudly and obnoxiously to Cake, I'm surprised none of my neighbors called to complain. Much to our delight, the cookies came out beautifully! Since we over did it with the flour, and didn't add enough sugar to compensate, they were a bit like a breakfast cookie, but with those big gooey dark chocolate chunks they were still delicious - especially with a cup of tea.

Tomorrow is my last day of complete freedom, Ana returns sometime Thursday, but we're going to do it up big with a good old fashioned kickback (even though we're kind of having a mini one tonight since Dani missed the last metro train by accident) and lots and lots of wine...and probably cheese because Becs is addicted.